Having moved from India to Edison three and a half years ago, Mansi Khandelwal missed the northern cuisine of her homeland so much that she opened a restaurant, Kabab Factory, on Oct. 21 in Metuchen with childhood friend and executive chef Nik Sharma.

The closest restaurants specializing in North Indian cuisine were in Piscataway and the Franklin Park section of Franklin Township, said Khandelwal, which surprised her because of the popularity of the Little India section of Edison and Woodbridge and combined 30 percent Indian population of the large townships. But most of that population is from South India, Khandelwal said.

“Southern Indian cuisine is much sweeter than Northern Indian cuisine,” she explained. “I was tired of not having a restaurant nearby with the food that I loved, so I decided to open one.”

Open less than three weeks, Metuchen’s only Indian restaurant already has had an impact on the community, Khandelwal said. In the first 10 days of business, she said she met more than 30 North Indian families who had ordered food and were excited that Kabab Factory had opened.

Signature items include aaloo potato chaat (fried potato with special spices and tangy chutney), kachori aaloo (wheat dough quiche stuffed with dry cooked lentils served with potato curry), and matra kulcha (yellow peas, simmered overnight with special spices and served with bread). And, of course, the menu includes a variety of kababs, including chicken, lamb, goat, fish, vegetable and pineapple.

“At a lot of Indian restaurants, it’s more about the color than the flavor,” Khandelwal said. “We focus on the flavor and import all our spices from India.”

In an increasingly “foodie” town, the restaurant fills a niche as the only Indian establishment, Kremer said.

“We know that all of our restaurants do better when we have a cluster of them together,” he said. “We also know people will travel from farther away to visit when we have a critical mass, a reputation as food town. So I think Kabab Factory fills a niche not filled before with their specialty of Indian food. We are very excited how they are bringing street food from New Delhi to downtown Metuchen to create a connection that people will hopefully appreciate.”

Located at 567 Middlesex Ave., Kabab Factory is open 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays and Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. ~Courtesy of Union County

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Sharma grew up with Khandelwal as family friends and was trained in New Delhi, but he has lived in the U.S. for 15 years. His mother, Anita, who lives in Hicksville on New York’s Long Island, is a partner in Kabab Factory.

The executive chef has experience with many prestigious North Indian restaurants in Manhattan. To Kabab Factory, he brought some of his signature dishes, such as anardana (pomegranate-infused tikka), malai kabab (chicken marinated in hung yogurt and cream cheese), and the popular chicken tikka masala.

“I love owning my own restaurant, and not being an employee,” said Sharma, who has moved to Metuchen. “It’s really great making what I want to make.”

Khandelwal said she gave the restaurant an Americanized name to appeal to more non-Indians. The name also is a continuation of an event-planning business she owned in India called The Event Factory.

Khandelwal’s event-planning experience also will come in handy with Diwali and Thanksgiving celebrations in the restaurant. Kabab Factory also will cater Diwali events, she said. The restaurant’s takeout business also is taking off, Sharma added.

Khandelwal said she moved to the U.S. at the request of her husband, Kartikeya Kathpalia, who went to college here and wanted to return. The couple met in India nine years ago, married two years later and a have a toddler son.

Kathpalia is co-owner of the Crazy 4 Falafel restaurants in Edison and the Somerset section of Franklin. Khandelwal said her background in event planning and her husband’s and Sharma’s experience in food service made opening a restaurant easier, as did the help of the Metuchen Downtown Alliance.

“We had only two weeks to open,” Khandelwal said. “The Alliance was extremely helpful in getting permits processed quickly.”

Located at 567 Middlesex Ave. (Route 27), the restaurant is open 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays and Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.